Lawrence Percolator

This Green Space

2012-01-23T11:54:00.004-06:00

http://thisgreenspace.wordpress.com/

Final Friday

2012-01-22T10:43:00.000-06:00

Stillness and the Word

2011-12-10T18:58:00.011-06:00

Opening - Wednesday, December 21^st from 6 - 9 pm

The show, curated by poet Peter Wright, is a collection of collaborations between visual artists, writers and musicians exploring the core moment of eternal peace and that which is born of it into conscious play. It is a celebration of the winter solstice, a time when we begin again. Writers & musicians will perform their works starting at 7 pm.

As the year makes its round

approaching that longest night

when she is reborn in darkness

we speed toward the exchange

of our bounty while just beneath

it is her secret that fuels our every move.

-Peter A Wright

Participants include: Lisa Grossman, Kelly Barth, Ashley Laird, Leah Sewell, Nicholas Ward, Aja Longi, Jenny Cook, Feloniz Lovato-Winston, Michael Hennecke, Stella Robbins, Lee Robins, Walt Ohnesorge, Karen Ohnesorge, Aaron Marable, Rachael Perry, Michael Bradley, Josh Boyd, Kyle McKenzie, Cody White, Stephen Locke, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Tony Peterson, Cathryn Chapman, Natalie Anne Dye, Shannon Fouquet, Jeff Fouquet, Michaela Carmen, Melissa Sewell, Carla Aspenberg, James Ahrens, Katie Nichols, and Peter Wright among others.

"Cirque de Decay" by KT Walsh

2011-11-13T20:15:00.004-06:00

KT's Cirque de Decay!

2011-11-03T10:54:00.004-05:00

Cirque de Decay

by KT Walsh

Opens Saturday, November 5th
7 - 10 pm
(show continues on weekends & final Friday through December 4th)

Cirque de Decay
The densely packed show includes paintings, sculpture, ceramics, prints, and mural studies. Seven costumes created by Percolator friends will be on display in anticipation of a costume driven, winter play by Walsh.

2011-10-30T18:23:00.000-05:00

Janata (The Masses) by Priti Cox

2011-09-14T21:08:00.013-05:00

Opening
Friday, September 30th
6 - 9 pm
Artist's Talk 7 pm
exhibition continues through Saturday, October 29th

Janata (The Masses)
Corporate globalization, by design, is driven by acquisition and profit. A gain in one part of the world means that someone in another part involuntarily pays the price. In India today, growth and development are euphemisms for inequity and displacement. Governments and corporations not only in India but across the world are grabbing for resources through military intervention, outright war, intimidation, and simple business-as-usual. The five percent of India that is, in the business propaganda term, "shining" today is leaving behind a very long shadow in its path - the other new India that is grey, desperate and violent. What's happening in India is proof that when people are uprooted from their rightful access to "common property" resources such as land, water, seed and livelihoods, they are not going to take it lying down--even if they do not have powerful lobbyists with money and men with guns to fight for them.

Performances by Priti Cox

Encroachment: Manufacturing Revolution
Saturday, October 1st
10 am - 4 pm on Massachusetts Street

We have a situation in which the government is acting as a guarantor to the expropriation of access to common property resources across the country and handing over those resources to private interests. This is leading to inequity - Dr Binayak Sen, doctor and civil liberties activist

This performance/installation is about the ongoing assault by the Indian state and large corporations on the country's Adivasi (indigenous) communities, whose home happens to be on the rich mineral belt of India also known as the Red Corridor. In defending their land and stave off annihilation, the Maoists', or Adivasis - turned - revolutionaries' only recourse has, sadly, been to take up arms.

Bija (the seed)
September 30th
noon - 6 pm at the Lawrence Percolator
Done in the style of Rangoli (Indian floor designs), this performance/installation using powdered and whole grains and seeds attempts to show the intricate and versatile biodiversity of India, which is under threat in the age of economic globalization and monoculture.

Find out more about the work of Priti Cox at her website,
Vanishing India.

2011-06-29T20:45:00.000-05:00

Enter the Dime Bag Show!

A benefit for the Social Service League & the Lawrence Percolator Artspace.
All Ages and abilities welcome. Your weird, wild &/or pretty creations will be shown and possibly sold.

Here’s the deal:
1. Go to the Social Service League, get a big grocery bag and fill it with thrift store stuff. If you want something too big for your bag talk to SSL staff. It might cost extra but your $ buys shoes & eyeglasses for low-income people.
2. Take it home & make artwork from your bag’s contents & any other debris you have around.
3. Donate your creation to The Dime Bag Show (priced $50 or under). All proceeds from art will help The Percolator continue to pay bills & put on community events.

Social Service League Hours:
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Saturday, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Show opens Saturday, July 16, 5-9 p.m
At the Percolator (yellow building behind the Art Center in the alley)

Percolator artwork drop-off times:
Wednesday, July 13 and Thursday, July 14, 5-9 p.m.

Show open on weekends noon – 6 p.m.
Closing and art pickup is Sunday, Aug. 7 noon – 6 p.m.

Views and Visions: Tony Peterson

2011-06-29T20:08:00.004-05:00

from Review Magazine June 26, 2011

Tony Peterson
Uncommon Visions of the Common World

by Steve Brisendine

Tony Peterson first set out to tell stories with his photography ... but he didn't like what he had to do to get those stories.

"I got my degree in photojournalism," Peterson said at the Final Friday opening for Uncommon Visions of the Common World, his solo show at the Lawrence Percolator. "But I didn't like the 'in your face' aspect of that, and so I went into nonprofits for 30 years."

Still, Peterson kept seeing — and photographing — things others missed.

I went on a trip with a friend of mine, he writes, and when she looked at my photographs she asked, "Were we in the same place?" We were in the same place at the same time yet my perspective and what I saw was completely different.

That’s when I realized that I do have an Uncommon Vision of the Common World.

Peterson covers a wide range of subjects with his work, but the nature of structures and the structures of nature are common threads running through the photographic portion of this show. (More on the other part coming up shortly). He focuses not so much on the objects themselves, but on focal points and resonant visual elements, so that each is as much a study in shape and symbol as a record of the thing being photographed.

What's especially effective is how Peterson ties the photo portion of the show (his first solo exhibition, by the way) to his other works, a series of woven tarpaper wall hangings which evoke his penchant for patterns such as the one found in Chex Mix (the image atop this post).

The woven pieces are placed in such a way that they both stand out on their own and point up the pieces around them; what could have been a jarring juxtaposition instead becomes a study in harmonious ensemble.

Peterson is still telling a story with his work. It's his story, and it's one worth following.

CFE: Going | Home | Coming

2011-06-21T15:54:00.003-05:00

Call for Entries:
Going | Home | Coming
August 13 - September 11, 2011

“Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration.”

Charles Dickens

“One never reaches home, but wherever friendly paths intersect the whole world looks like home for a time.”

Hermann Hesse

Home is something many of us take for granted, until we are called to consider it from a new perspective. Leaving or returning home can offer such an opportunity for reflection.

When do you become aware of home?
How many homes do you have?
In what situations do you NOT feel at home?
What things evoke a sense of home?
How does the idea of home change over time?

Acceptable Media/Work:
2-D and 3-D works will be considered for the exhibition. If selected, work must be delivered ready to hang or install. Please note that the Percolator is a 600 square foot space with eight-foot ceilings.

Submit digital images (jpg or png) of up to three different works to goinghomecoming@gmail.com with brief description (including size, date, medium) and price of work (if for sale) with contact information, including name, mailing address, gallery representation (if applicable), email, website url, and telephone.

Please limit each image size to 1mb each; with file name: lastname_firstname_001.jpg

Dates:
Saturday, July 22, 2011 submit work via email (deadline)
Friday, July 29, 2011 notification of selection
Show runs August 13 - September 11, 2011
Reception, Saturday, August 13, 6-9 p.m.

Pricing:
The Lawrence Percolator will take 20% of all art sales; price work accordingly.

Delivery/Drop Off:
Selected artworks should arrive by Friday, August 5, 2011. Cost of Shipping to and from exhibition will be the responsibility of the artist. Original shipping materials will be re-used for return shipping to artist. Return shipping fees will be coordinated with artist via PayPal, check or otherwise.

Local delivery/drop off will be coordinated the weekend of August 6-7, 2011.

About the Percolator:
The Lawrence Percolator is the project space of the Lawrence Corporation for the Advancement of the Visual Arts. LCAVA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing new art and cultural events to audiences in Lawrence and Douglas County Kansas. Donations are tax deductible!

Final Friday Map

2011-05-23T19:46:00.001-05:00

Map of venues for Final Friday May 27th
thanks to MM

Lucille Vann's Scrapbooks

2011-05-04T17:01:00.004-05:00

For Love of Country
the books of
Lucille Vann

Opening
Saturday, May 7th
3 - 6 pm
exhibition continues through May 29th

The show consists of Lucille Vann's themed scrapbooks which span seventy years of American history. Lucille is a Lawrence native and is now 95 years old. She started making scrapbooks while her husband was serving in WWII, stopped and started again in 1980 when someone bought one of her books from the 40's. The scrapbooks cover a broad range of themes including iconoclastic images of advertising and fashion from the decades as they evolve. The Percolator is an autonomous art collective focused on the interactive creativity of the community in which it thrives. We're located in the alley between 9th & 10th & New Hampshire & Rhode Island streets, open Saturdays & Sundays noon-6pm & every final friday of the month. We hope to see you soon and often.

Parade of the "Cardboard Thing"

2011-04-02T10:50:00.002-05:00

Video of Juniper Tangpuz demonstrating proper scissor technique

2011-03-27T21:52:00.004-05:00

In T.J. and Eric's cardboard workshop

2011-03-27T21:39:00.009-05:00

Here's a glimpse of the constructive and joyful mayhem that took place this weekend as the 'Cardboard Thing' began to take shape.

Click here for Juniper Tangpuz's Website

Paper Products for the People: Eric Farnsworth and T.J. Tangpuz

2011-03-27T17:54:00.005-05:00

from the Lawrence Journal-World

Sunday, March 27, 2011

By Sarah Henning

Cardboard isn’t just for boxes.

Anyone wanting proof need look no further than the work of Juniper Tangpuz.

A 2003 Kansas University graduate in sculpture, the Kansas City, Mo. artist crafts the unthinkable from the material, making everything from drums to large animals to accordions from cardboard and its cousin paper.

“It played such a huge presence in my childhood, you know, just making things — it’s like just natural for me to cut,” says Tangpuz, who also works in metal and stone, makes mechanical pieces and even dabbles in comic book art. “But now I use it because it’s more practical — it’s cheap, it’s abundant, it can be recycled. And, I can fold it up, which is really nice. So, I can make big things and kind of compress them. I can carry it up stairs and through doors and things like that, it’s very easy to transport.”

Tangpuz will have some of that unique art on display April 1 through April 30 at The Percolator, which is located in the alley behind 913 Rhode Island. The show is in conjunction with a workshop called “Build this Cardboard Thing” that runs March 25 through March 27. Participants will share their completed work during a parade paired with the exhibit opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m., April 1.

“Well, aside from my long, enduring affection for corrugated cardboard, the origins of the cardboard workshop is a bit of a fluke,” says Lawrence artist Eric Farnsworth, the man behind the workshop with Tangpuz. “I have built a few fairly large cardboard things, so I thought it would be nice to get people together to build an animal-like thing, and walk around with it. Somewhere in the planning stages, someone suggested that it would be fitting to do a little parade on April 1st, so that set the date.

“There is a vast quantity of cardboard around town, and it sounded fun to put some of it to use.”

He immediately enlisted Tangpuz, he says, because aside from being one of his favorite artists, Tangpuz has a unique talent with paper products.

“If you are planning to build something silly and large out of cardboard, there is no better person than T.J. to have in the room,” says Farnsworth, calling Tangpuz by his nickname. “So he was a natural to have involved with this project, and we are happy that he had time in his schedule to participate. I’m excited to see what he’ll come up with.”

Coming Soon...

2011-03-07T20:56:00.003-06:00

Build This Cardboard Thing
an Eric Farnsworth production

Cardboard Construction Workshops
March 26 & 27 1 -5 pm

Parade and Opening Reception
Friday, April 1st 6 - ? pm

Also in the gallery, work by the one and only
Juniper Tangpuz

Percolator art featured on NPR

2011-02-17T19:00:00.003-06:00

Art made by Percolators is featured on a new segment of the nationally syndicated NPR arts program Studio 360. Listen below to the interview with Kansas State Senator Roger Reitz who is trying to garner enough votes to block the Governor's proposal to abolish the Kansas Arts Commission.

www.studio360.org/2011/feb/18/whats-matter-kansas-time/

Memories, Myth, Nostalgia

2011-02-13T21:03:00.002-06:00

Memories, Myth, Nostalgia
works by Brandon & Jennifer Larsen

February 13 – March 20

Final Friday reception / Friday, Feb. 25, 5-8 p.m.

Bookmaking workshop / Rebecca Blocksome / Saturday, March 12, 2-4 p.m.
Multimedia workshop / Jennifer & Brandon Larsen / Saturday, March 19, 2-4 p.m.
(* $5 donation for supplies)

(* pre-register by emailing jenniferlawhead@yahoo.com)
Closing reception / Saturday, March 19, 6-9 p.m.
lcava.org

jenniferlarsen.wordpress.com
bwlarsen.wordpress.com

Operation Exposure: War is Trauma

2011-02-10T18:11:00.005-06:00

One Night Only
Friday, February 11th
5 - 9 pm

Operation Exposure: War is Trauma
Prints by Justseeds and Iraq Veterans Against the War

This collaboration between the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative and veterans and supporters from Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) is a direct response to the suicide epidemic and violation of GI’s right to heal within the GI and veteran community.

Celebrate People's History

2010-12-17T16:19:00.011-06:00

Celebrate People's History!
Posters of Resistance and Revolution
Through February 6th

50+ posters from the Celebrate People's History project (and now book), organized by Josh MacPhee of the Just Seeds artists' cooperative, that pay tribute to revolution, racial justice, women's rights, queer liberation, labor struggles, and creative activism and organizing. Celebrate People's History! presents these essential moments - acts of resistance and great events in an often hidden history of human and civil rights struggles - as a visual tour through decades and across continents, from the perspective of some of the most interesting and socially engaged artists working today, including the Percolator's own Dave Loewenstein.

In addition to the CPH posters, the Percolator will show posters from Lawrence collections that respond to and illuminate local struggles from the past forty years.

To read more about Celebrate People's History! check out the
Just Seeds website here.

Visual Memory

2010-12-16T00:06:00.002-06:00

from the Lawrence Journal-World
January 9, 2011
by Michael C. Auchard

Photo by Nick Krug

The "Celebrate People's History" project opens at The Percolator, located at 9th and New Hampshire St., Saturday. The exhibit features posters and prints that document some of the unsung civil rights struggles in American history.

It is often said that history is written by the winners. After the turmoil between two opposing cultures, the victors often claim both the spoils of war and the ability to reframe their past brutalities in a more socially palatable manner.

The “Celebrate People’s History” project, an exhibit of politically motivated prints and posters, opening Saturday at The Percolator, aims to shed some light upon the lesser-known, forgotten or simply ignored struggles that have been brushed aside from mainstream consciousness. A book-release party for “Celebrate People’s History,” a collection of the various artists’ posters showcased at the gallery, is scheduled to conclude the exhibit and will be Jan. 28.

The project’s organizer, Brooklyn artist Josh McPhee, says from the beginning he’s wanted to focus on subjects that were “undercelebrated” in a straightforward, eye-catching manner.

“Here’s an attractive image and some very simple information to put out into the world,” he says. “We’re not telling you to buy anything, it’s more that this is our common shared history and we’re putting it back out into the public space.”

McPhee says what ties the whole project together is the multicultural theme and the access the medium of posters provides to the masses. The dozens of artists whose work will be on display at the exhibit all worked within this framework.

This is a small collection of prints and posters on-hand for the "Celebrate People's History" exhibit at The Percolator, opening this Saturday.

“It’s history that’s being collectively written by anyone who wants to participate,” he says. “That’s not a clean, unblemished slate. It has its ups and downs and bumps. It’s something that needs to be alive. It’s not packed away into history books or bronzed on statues. It should be in your face and something we engage with.”

David Loewenstein, member of the Percolator’s board of directors and participating artist in the exhibit, agrees with McPhee that the use of posters is an efficient way to engage people, using public space as a place for knowledge and education instead of simply advertising. He says it’s important for everybody to consider the environment they live in and its past.

“So often we overlook these events at the time they happen,” Loewenstein says. “It’s now more important than ever — not for academics, not for fancy artists, but for regular folks — to think about what their government is doing, what the social policy is about, and how it relates to their lives individually. I think these prints, if you spend some time with them, will really spark some interest in that kind of thinking.”

Loewenstein says he is excited about the upcoming exhibit and has several plans for the event. Besides the exhibit itself, there will be a collection of older posters from the 1970s on display and a community wall, a kind of microcosm of the larger “Celebrate People’s History” project.

“There’ll be a wall in the gallery where people can write, or draw, or post similar kinds of stories — things that have been overlooked, or people we need to reconsider and figure out their importance. We’ll have a wall where people who visit can post those things. It’s sort of the starting point for producing some form of compilation of “Celebrate Kansas People’s History.”

Another main draw to the exhibit will be at the book release party, where the Spencer Museum of Art’s curator of prints and drawings, Stephen Goddard will speak about the historical context of political prints and about McPhee in particular.

“I really admire what (McPhee’s) done in terms of organizing a printmaking cooperative and the way he’s used his Web presence and ability to spread the word electronically,” Goddard says. “I think he’s really done a fabulous service and speaks very eloquently about his sense of mission. I think he’s a great champion for print art.”

Goddard says he believes this kind of exhibit is meaningful for people from all walks of life and political leanings.

“It’s important for this kind of exhibition to be seen anywhere. We’re lucky Lawrence has a long history with people involved in radical arts and the whole range of political beliefs. I think it’s important to keep this alive.”

Benefit at the Jackpot

2010-12-14T17:04:00.003-06:00

*DOOR PRIZES
*STICK YOUR HEAD IN PERCO-PAINTED PHOTO BOOTH THINGY LIKE THEY HAVE AT CARNIVALS
*EARLY SPECIAL GUESTS
10:00 KRISTEN PALUDAN
11:00 DANNY POUND
12:00 DJ JUNCO PARTNER

Portraits

2010-11-22T13:02:00.004-06:00

Dia De Los Muertos

2010-10-31T11:41:00.001-05:00

Imagined Ghosts

2010-10-22T12:27:00.006-05:00

Opening finalFriday, October 29th

5 - 8 pm
Imagined Ghosts:
Tributes for Halloween and Day of the Dead

new works by Mike Hoffman

"Zombie Sal Maglie"

acrylic on board
13" x 23"
Mike Hoffman holds a BFA from Oklahoma State University. Compelled by mysterious, non-monetary forces, he spends most of his time holed up inan Oklahoma farmhouse making images on and out of re-purposed materials like barn wood and landscape paintings found at thrift stores. His images are largely figural and from the... past, including a good deal of “junk cultural” references (movies, popular music, sports, burlesque, true crime magazines, etc.) as well as more “legitimate” or historical ones (it’s a fine distinction). His media vary from painting to small-scale sculpture to tramp art carving.

.art on the clock. | Closing Time!

2010-10-11T13:48:00.003-05:00

Shut it down!
Saturday, October 23rd
6 - 9pm
Come check out our show entitled ".art on the clock." as we close it out and say "hello" to our sister-show at the New Orleans Photo Alliance in New Orleans, LA as we link-up via web-cam!

This is a more informal gathering. Business casual not required. But you can pretend it's Hawaiian Shirt Day.

The sister-show is a photography-based show juried by Andy Adams of flakphoto.com and is entitled "WoRK".

(image from the movie Office Space)

Coming Soon to the Percolator

2010-09-30T19:40:00.013-05:00

December 4 - January 9
Portraits by Murphy, McLouth and Sebelius

January 15 - February 6
Celebrate People's History: Posters of Resistance and Revolution

.art on the clock. Submission Deadline EXTENDED

2010-09-02T17:18:00.005-05:00

.art on the clock., a work-related show at the Lawrence Percolator, with sister-show at the New Orleans Photo Alliance, has extended the Call for Entry deadline to SEPT 10. Please submit via the Flickr group or by e-mailing headhoncho@jillensley.com.

**please note that pieces MUST arrive at the Lawrence Percolator (Lawrence, KS) absolutely no later than SEPT 22. Notification of acceptance will be by SEPT 13**

Full timeline and guidelines available at Flickr.
(image by Rick Andrasek)

You Can't Scare Me I'm a Teacher

2010-08-29T00:13:00.004-05:00

August 16 - September 19
Lawrence public school art teachers share the work they make when the kids go home.
Opening at August 27th Final Friday event

CFE | .art on the clock. Due SEPT 3

2010-08-18T19:14:00.007-05:00

. art on the clock .

Work. It’s something we can’t escape. Whether it’s the search for it, muddling through it, or the elusive act of enjoying it, the Lawrence Percolator is looking for work about Work. “art on the clock” is a show dedicated to that buzzing activity we do on a daily basis. Post-it doodles, MS Paint artwork to pass the time, fully-realized sketches on the backs of receipt paper, sculptures or collages made from the detritus of your job, or even work made off the clock that is concerned with the topic of your job, or lack therof. Wage slaves! Corporate climbers! The recently unemployed! Show us your creative outlet from the hours not your own, or too much your own.
Curated by Jill Ensley.

Submissions due by SEPT 3.

Timeline:
Deadline for submissions : SEPT 3
Notification of Acceptance : SEPT 8
Soft Open (no reception) : SEPT 24
*Hard Closing (reception with web-cam linkage) : OCT 23
*This show is being held as a collaboration with the “WoRK” show held at the New Orleans Photo Alliance. The Lawrence show will be linked via web-cam to the opening reception for “WoRK”. Come share in this exciting event!

Pieces should be ready to hang! Shipping is to be paid by artist, if applicable. Limit of five submissions per person. All mediums accepted. May submit to both shows. New Orleans show deadline is AUG 30 and information can be found at : www.neworleansphotoalliance.org

ENTER HERE: http://www.flickr.com/groups/artontheclock/

OR by e-mailing images of your submissions to headhoncho@jillensley.com. Please include title, medium, dimensions, and price (if for sale).

2010-07-13T12:17:00.001-05:00

Unmask.Unearth is a collaboration between the Percolator, the Lawrence Youth Ensemble and artists KT Walsh and Laura Ramberg. The Lawrence Youth Ensemble has been working with teenagers over the last month and a half to write and perform a play about the Baker-Haskell Wetlands. The cast members have written a script that explores the history, natural environment, and future of the Wetlands in both a serious and comical way. They will perform their piece July 16 and 17 in the east side of South Park and July 23 and 24 at the Percolator.

On Friday, July 23 there will be an art opening at the Percolator about the Wetlands in conjunction with the performance. The show will include art by many community members including: children, professional artists, and wetlands enthusiasts. (Artists can still turn in Wetlands inspired art until the drop off deadline, July 19, 5-9 pm at the Percolator. Call or email 785-218-9507, lawrenceyouthensemble@gmail.com to coordinate your drop off.)

The Lawrence Youth Ensemble and Laura Ramberg, an art teacher at the Juvenille Detention Center, have been leading theatre and maskmaking classes at the Detention Center that focus on the Wetlands. The students' masks will be used in the performances and displayed at the art show. KT Walsh is creating a huge Wetlands-inspired backdrop for the performances.

So much art!!

Here are the dates...

UNMASK.UNEARTH: Discovering the Wetlands

JULY 16 and 17, Friday and Saturday @ 7pm
SOUTH PARK (east side of park)
Performances by the Lawrence Youth Ensemble

JULY 23, Friday @ 6pm
THE LAWRENCE PERCOLATOR (look for the green awnings in the alley behind The Lawrence Art Center)
Art show opening

JULY 23 and 24, Friday and Saturday @ 7pm
THE LAWRENCE PERCOLATOR
Performances by the Lawrence Youth Ensemble

UnMask.UnEarth

2010-06-09T19:12:00.006-05:00

A CALL FOR ART!

This summer the Percolator and the Lawrence Youth Ensemble, along with artists KT Walsh and Laura Ramberg, are partnering to create art about the beautiful Wetlands to the south of our city.

The project includes a play written and performed by teenagers, masks made by students at the Douglas County Detention Center, a huge fabric art structure, and ART made by all of us!

As part of Unmask.Unearth, we are asking everyone, no matter what age or ability, to create art about the Wetlands. Take a trip out and explore. Tell an old story...or a new one. Any art medium is welcome...found art, art made from nature, political art, costume pieces, poems.

Please drop your art off at the Percolator by July 19.

Lora Jost, Linked In Spirit Exhibition

2010-05-04T22:28:00.007-05:00

Linked in Spirit: Exhibition of Mixed-media Collages, Clayboard Drawings, and Mosaics
Artist: Lora Jost

Opening: Saturday, May 15th, 6-9pm (with a musical performance by Brad Hoopes) The show continues weekends May 15th through June 22nd, noon - 6p.

Join Lora for an all-ages art-making workshop: Saturday, June 12th, 2-4 pm. $5 donation for materials is welcome. For more information, and to RSVP for the workshop, email lorajost@hotmail.com. Drop-ins are welcome.

About the art:
Lora Jost is drawn to themes that are mundane, whimsical, and socially urgent, and likes to mix them around to find how they link in spirit. While based on experiences, her images are never realistic-looking; a bit of fantasy always comes into play. And sometimes she abandons “reality” altogether by creating characters in scenes that are fully imaginary. But even these are intended to say something tangible about how special (or beautiful or infuriating or ridiculous) this ordinary old world really is.
Jost’s exhibit will include work that she has made in three media: collage, clayboard, and mosaic. She is interested in the way that her work in one media influences her work in another. Making painted mosaic-like patterns in her collages grew out of the textures she was making in scratchboard. Then one day her brother, also an artist, said to her, “Why don’t you make mosaics?” And now she loves making mosaics, and is finding herself incorporating pieces of cloth that look like mosaic tiles into her collages.

About the artist:
Lora Jost is a freelance artist with a studio in Lawrence, Kansas. She teaches collage and sketchbook journaling classes at the Lawrence Arts Center, leads projects with community groups, illustrates, and writes.
Jost received an MFA in 1992, with an emphasis in nonstatic forms, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has worked as an artist in residence, including several residencies in Glasco, Kansas, with support from the Kansas Arts Commission. She co-authored, with Dave Loewenstein, Kansas Murals: A Traveler’s Guide (2006, University Press of Kansas), funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Kansas Arts Commission, recognized as a Kansas Notable Book 2007 by the Kansas Center for the Book.

Lora's website

Fly-In

2010-04-18T22:22:00.005-05:00

The weather was perfect; all entrants received their Percolator pilot wings after completing the intensive flight training course; and everyone turned out a winner in their own specialized category at our first ever Fly-In.

Thanks to all our glider makers, pilots, MC vonHolten, and the Lawrence Arts Center for the generous use of their lobby for our runway.

Out of Thin Air

2010-04-07T18:20:00.006-05:00

Opening
Saturday, April 10th 6- 9pm
with special guests
Mark Southerland's Horn Sculptures and Avant Jazz Performance (free)
(show continues on weekends 10-6 through May 2nd)

Kite Making Workshop (free)
Sunday, April 11th 2 - 5pm

Paper Glider Workshop (free)
Saturday, April 17th 1 - 4pm

Paper Glider Fly-In (free)
Sunday, April 18th 12 - 3pm
Make and fly your own glider!
location: Lawrence Arts Center Lobby, 940 New Hampshire

Mystery Balloon Launch (free)
Saturday, April 24th 1 - 4pm

Inflatable Sculpture Bike Ride accompanied by windy instruments (free)
Friday, April 30th 6 - 9pm

Drakkar Sauna live at the percolator

2010-04-04T13:45:00.005-05:00

The folks at dotdotdot uploaded some footage of the Drakkar Sauna show to their website. Here it is.

Percolator Peeps

2010-03-10T09:21:00.003-06:00

Opening
Saturday, March 13th
6 - 9 pm

Paper Glider Fly-In

2010-03-07T11:12:00.006-06:00

Paper Glider Fly-In
Call for Entries

Entries must be received by Saturday, April 17th, 2010

Description of the Fly-In
As a part of "Out of Thin Air", April 10 - May 3, the Lawrence Percolator will be hosting the first ever Lawrence Paper Glider Fly-In on Sunday, April 18, 2010 across the alley in the Lawrence Arts Center lobby. Glider makers young and old are encouraged to submit one, or more, handmade paper gliders to be flown by Percolator Accredited Pilots and then exhibited in the Percolator art space.

This non-competitive exposition will record flights in categories such as: Distance flown, Time aloft, Surprise, Spectacular crash, Launching technique, Weirdness, Elegance , and Helicopter.

All flights will be documented and results posted on out website. After the Fly-In, all gliders will be exhibited at the Percolator for the remaining run of "Out of Thin Air."

Guidelines for gliders
1. Send completed paper gliders so that they need little or no assembly. Please include any instructions for optimal flying.
2. Original designs are encouraged (be inspired by books and websites, but please do not use any pre-made templates)
3. Decorate your glider any way you wish, but keep in mind that decorations may change the way your glider flies.

Gliders will not be returned, but can be picked up in person at the Percolator after May 2, 2010. Any gliders not picked up by May 30, 2010 become the property of the Lawrence Percolator.

Mailing / Drop-Off Instructions
gliders must be received by Saturday, April 17th

Mail your completed glider(s) to :
The Lawrence Percolator Fly-In
c/o Christina Hoxie
906 Ward
Lawrence, KS 66044

or

Drop-off gliders at the Percolator during regular our
hours, 12 - 6 Saturdays and Sundays.

Keshav Ramaswami's Objects + Presence

2010-01-31T15:15:00.006-06:00

Keshav Ramaswami, Objects + Presence

Opening Friday, February 12th, 7p - 10p

Show continues weekends February 13th - March 7th

Painted between mid-2008 to early 2010, the two series, Objects + Presence explores the formalistic aspects of composition. "Objects" is an aconceptual series that explores placement, color, texture, and size of forms that includes a tapered figure, a circle, and a diaphanous line. "Presence" is a series of works composed of arrows, definite rectangles, indefinite quadrilaterals, faded textures and free-form circles. The use of color-textured and dark backgrounds were a basis to thoroughly express the sometimes bold, and other times faint foreground.

About the artist:

Keshav Ramaswami is an artist from Leawood, Kansas who was born in Lawrence. He grew up painting on tiles and small canvases and scribbling abstract figures on paper. Around 2006, he began to paint on larger canvases with a more direct approach, observing and studying the works of Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian. Beginning to build a portfolio, he started to paint and develop his style. His current Influences include Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Joan Miro.

Keshav (16) is a junior at Shawnee Mission East High School. He is an accomplished guitarist and a member of the SME Blue Knights Jazz Band. He actively pursues biological research at UMKC and is an avid tennis player.

S O S

2010-01-11T10:26:00.013-06:00

S a v e
O u r

S c h o o l s

Opening
Saturday, January 30th

10am – 4pm Make stuff, preview the show, and bring the kids for a day of creating artful signs, stickers, letters, and a chain of wishes in support of our schools. Popcorn and lemonade, too!

6 – 8pm Reception celebrating Lawrence's neighborhood schools. The exhibit produced by the New York and Cordley school communities (and you!) about our schools, will include photographs, art, videos, music and poetry.

Exhibit continues
Sunday, Jan. 31st...12-6
Mon., Feb. 1st - Fri., Feb. 5th every evening from 6-8pm

For more information see:
Article in the Journal-World
Save Our Neighborhood Schools

The Lawrence Percolator
(tucked between the Lawrence Arts Center and the Social Service League
in the alley behind 913 Rhode Island – look for the green awnings)

Amy Lenharth's Relics

2009-12-09T07:06:00.009-06:00

Amy Lenharth Relics
Saturday December 19 5pm

the show continues Saturdays and Sundays
noon - 6pm through January 24

Themes of life and death permeate my work as they have my life in recent years. Death has caused me to reflect on the multi-faceted aspects of close relationships, both the positive and negative memories. The objects I create become containers for these memories.. I take many of the natural objects that I find and make molds of them so that I can cast them in clay or metal. The process of casting allows me to make ‘ghosts’ of the original object which I can then alter and transform to create a new object. I combine the cast pieces with found objects that have an inherent history of their own. The assemblages play on the symbolism behind objects and their meaning in the myths of human culture as a way to explain the cycles of life and death. I am especially attracted to the contrast between nature made and human made objects. Many of my recent pieces juxtapose these symbols and even merge them, erasing the boundaries between these two states and raising questions for the viewer.

Amy is a graduate student with a concentration in ceramics at the University of Kansas.
visit her website for more information about Amy and her work.

2009-11-05T17:56:00.002-06:00

Weekends through December 6

Ann Dean photographs

Mexico: Color, Line, & Texture

closing reception Friday, December 4
7-9 pm

Day of the Dead

2009-10-29T12:40:00.003-05:00

You are invited to bring something to the Percolator altar for

El Dia de los Muertos en Kansas
Where we who are not dead yet celebrate those who are

Sunday, November 1
6 pm potluck dinner
7:30 procession / invocation

Free & open to the public

On the walls: Ann Dean, Mexico: Color, Line, & Texture
through Dec. 6
closing reception Friday, Dec. 4

Come See the Mural

2009-10-18T13:19:00.007-05:00

Thanks go out to everyone who helped make the Black Sheep Art Collective residency at the Percolator a great success. The mural will be on view at the Percolator through October 28th,and then will be installed at the Four Winds Native Center at 15th and Haskell.

The DIY Spraypaint Workshop.

Jeff, Cy, and Ave at work in the Percolator studio.

Haskell students finishing their panel for the Four Winds Center.

Coming to the Percolator in October - The Black Sheep Art Collective

2009-10-08T23:36:00.001-05:00

From October 8 - 16, the Black Sheep Art Collective will be artists in residence at the Percolator. Listen to the lawrence.com podcast here.

Schedule of events so far (check back for updates)
Saturday, October 10th, 7pm - Get to know the Black Sheep Art Collective followed by a screening of the graffiti documentary "Bomb it."
Sunday, October 11th, 2-5pm - DIY spraypaint workshop
Friday, October 16th, 6-9pm - BSAC mural unveiling
October 16 - 28 - BSAC mural displayed at the Percolator
The completed mural will then be installed at the 4 Winds Center (formerly Pelathe) at 15th & Haskell. More on an opening for that soon.

From Here to There

2009-10-07T08:34:00.006-05:00

From Here to There
A Lawrence Percolator + FBL joint featurette

HEARTLAND

2009-09-26T11:54:00.003-05:00

The friendly neighborhood Lawrence Percolator is featured in the SMART Museum's Heartland exhibtion catalog. Here is a PDF of it for you! The catalog features essays by John Corbett and Frank Veenstra; Joshua Decter; Dave Eggers; Charles Esche; Hasan Kwame Jeffries; Andria Lisle; Hesse McGraw; Kerstin Niemann; Stephanie Smith; Rebecca Solnit; Matthew Strauss; Dan S. Wang; and Matt Weiland.

While this publication stems from the Heartland exhibitions at the Van Abbemuseum and the Smart Museum of Art, this book is much more than an art catalogue. Contributors—including novelist Dave Eggers, scholar Hasan Kwame Jeffries, and journalist Rebecca Solnit—explore the region through topics ranging from art to music to urban farming to political history. An illustrated section introduces all of the artists involved in both iterations of Heartland, including established figures like Kerry James Marshall and exuberant newcomers like Whoop Dee Doo. An appendix surveys the lively state of independent and artist-run cultural initiatives from New Orleans to Detroit.

If you see any Percolator Paraphrenalia at the exhibition, send us a note about it.

Make a License Plate - Support the Arts

2009-09-14T19:55:00.002-05:00

Call for Artists To Design the Kansas Arts License Plate

The Kansas Arts Commission invites Kansas visual artists to submit designs for a new Kansas Arts License Plate. Artists must currently reside in Kansas and be 10 years old and older.

The plate is scheduled for production in 2010 or once funds are raised for its manufacture.

The license plate will be available for all Kansans to purchase for their vehicles. All proceeds will go towards grant programs of the Kansas Arts Commission.

The design should reflect and promote a positive image of Kansas and Kansas arts. The image will be used to promote the arts and the Kansas Arts Commission throughout the state and nationwide.

Submissions must be postmarked by October 15, 2009, or if delivered, received by October 15, 2009. No submissions will be returned.

Kansas Arts Commissioners and staff will narrow the submissions to five finalists. A sample plate for each of the finalists will be posted on the Kansas Arts Commission website and Kansans will be invited to vote for their favorite plate.

The winning design will be announced in January 2010. The artist submitting the winning design will be credited in all promotional material for the license plate and will be prominently featured on the Kansas Arts Commission’s website. Other promotional opportunities may be available. In addition, the winning designer will receive a three-percent royalty fee for all Kansas arts license plates sold.

humbled & happy

2009-08-04T12:19:00.009-05:00

Our Dime Bag fundraiser was a rollicking good time. A heartfelt thank you is due to the following artists:

April A. Bivens
Susan Schuette Buchanan
Diana Dunkley
Eric Farnsworth
Mary Lyn Farwell
Linda Frost
Zoe Gillaspie
Lana Grove
Chantel C. Guidry
Gary Hinman
Nancy Hubble
Lora Jost
Dave Loewenstein
Molly Murphy
Natasha Naramore
Cindy Oliver
Marty Olson
Rachael Perry
Wayne Propst
Lily Pryor
Ardys Ramberg
Julia Randolph
Sarah Randolph
Nan Renbarger
Ashley Russell
Nick Schmiedeler
Jan See
Dawn P. Tallchief
Dave Van Hee
Leslie vonHolten
CB Whalen
Renee Whaley
KT Walsh
Matt Weaver
Bonnie B. Willey

Thanks also to the Bopaphonics for entertaining the masses; Bill Allen, Tim vonHolten, & Ben Ahlvers for pancakes; Sam Leslie and his burrito bike for vegetarian happiness; and to our generous donors & participants who helped us celebrate our alley gallery endeavor.

The Percolator is closed through August so we can give our space some TLC. In the meantime, MAKE ART HAPPEN. We'll see you soon.

Art Sale & Pancake Feed

2009-07-27T13:04:00.003-05:00

Please join us for the One Night Only

2009 Dime Bag Show
& Pancake Feed

Saturday, August 1
7-10 pm
@ the Percolator

a fundraiser for the Lawrence Percolator & the Social Service League

Pancakes & syrup! Music by the Bopaphonics! Grown up drinks & curious artistic mash-ups!

All art priced at $50 and under!

We'd very much like to see you there.

Call for Artists: 2009 Dime Bag Show

2009-06-29T10:55:00.003-05:00

Dime Bag Show
a benefit for the Social Service League and the Lawrence Percolator

Call for Artists

Art for a good cause!

1. Stop by the Social Service League & pay $10 for a “Percolator bag” (all proceeds go to the SSL) 2. Fill the bag with whatever you want
3. Take it home & make artwork from your bag’s contents
4. Donate your artwork to the Percolator July 26–27
5. All proceeds from the sale of your artwork will benefit the Lawrence Percolator, a nonprofit community-based art gallery
6. Celebrate art in our community & buy art for your home August 1. All work sold for $50 or less!

the Dime Bag Show is one night only
Saturday, August 1, 7–10 pm

Social Service League
905 Rhode Island, Lawrence
Wed. through Fri. 9–4
Saturdays 9–2

Percolator
Alley behind the Arts Center :: Look for the green awnings

Questions?
Contact Leslie (leslievonholten@gmail.com, 785-840-5226)

Jack Ozegovic - Opening June 27th

2009-06-23T18:13:00.010-05:00

Continuing the Search
A retrospective exhibition of the work of Jack Ozegovic

Opening - Saturday, June 27th, 7-9 pm
show continues on weekends through July 19th

Replay Benefit Show June 14!!

2009-06-08T09:55:00.002-05:00

Please join us for the

Percopalooza Benefit Show
Sunday, June 14, 2009

Replay Lounge

4 pm to 2 am (art never sleeps)

Outdoor patio show featuring the sounds of Naomi What?, Danny Pound, Hospital Ships, Novalus, and the California Craisins

Readings by Mark Hennessey and Chantel Guidry

Not enough for you? Well how about door prizes! a photo booth! the famous Make It Table! clown paintings! zines!

Wanna ride home with a Farnsworth Bicycle Laboratory construction? Then be at the Replay June 14!!

and hey, why not—bring your kids, too! (they're pretty fun, we've noticed)

Crosshatch: Textile & Fiber Art through June 14

2009-05-29T23:00:00.003-05:00

Crosshatch

2009-05-15T09:52:00.006-05:00

Please join us for the opening of

Crosshatch:

Textile and Fiber Work from the University of Kansas and the Kansas City Art Institute

Friday, May 22
6 to 9 p.m.

Exhibit runs through June 14

Ride Your Bike

2009-05-03T19:37:00.004-05:00

Percolator Eric Farnsworth has designed new bike racks for the Spencer Museum of Art! Atop the truly mellowest hill to the KU campus, these racks are nestled right there between great art (at the Spencer of course) and great coffee (on the bottom floor of the Union). Go make a day of it and hitch your ride to these beauties. It's spring, after all.

Yoonmi Nam

2009-04-23T17:17:00.008-05:00

Percolator Artists’ Lecture Series

Yoonmi Nam

Wednesday, April 29
7 pm

Please join us for a lecture and discussion by Yoonmi Nam, an artist working primarily in printmaking and painting. Her work is influenced by her Korean and Canadian upbringing, which exposed her to the dynamics of both Eastern and Western art concepts. “This experience enriched my view and my understanding of both cultures, but at times, it also made me feel like an outsider,” she said. “Eventually, I realized that they are both part of who I am as a person and an artist. The training I had in Western art technique and the Eastern way of my thinking found its balance and its place in my work both visually and conceptually. In my work I seek to visually represent what we cannot see in space—the unseen space. It is in a way a landscape, but it lies in between the visible and the invisible.”

Nam is currently a professor of printmaking at KU. As a Spring 2009 Hall Center for the Humanities Fellow, she is working on a project entitled “Arranged Flowers,” a portfolio of five prints using a traditional Japanese water-based woodblock printmaking technique that combines research on seventeenth century Dutch flower paintings and Japanese prints that depict the art of Japanese flower arrangement (Ikebana).

The lecture is free and open to the public.

(Image photo by Aaron Paden)

"Cultural Recovery" by Arlene Goldbard

2009-04-16T09:40:00.005-05:00

"Cultural Recovery"
A talk by Arlene Goldbard
Tuesday, April 21st
7pm
Lawrence Arts Center (gallery)
940 New Hampshire, Lawrence, KS

Discussion will follow, and Arlene's latest book New Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development, will be available for purchase.

Arlene's topic is "Cultural Recovery." She says: "Most policy-makers seem to have given little or no serious consideration to culture's role as a crucible for supporting resilience and recovery. It appears we may have reached an end-point for the old 'support the arts' arguments (which haven't been working for a long time). As more and more organizations face funding cuts, we need to stimulate a new understanding that sustainable recovery demands cultural recovery." Her approach to the topic includes suggesting ways for artists and organizations to respond to the crisis, facing the challenges of bringing about a real shift in thinking about the arts and public purpose, and finding ways to be integral to national recovery. The actions needed now, she says, must be equally and simultaneously powerful as art, as political action and as spiritual practice.

Arlene Goldbard is a writer and consultant whose focus is the intersection of culture, politics and spirituality. Her blog and other writings may be downloaded from her Web site http://arlenegoldbard.com/ She was born in New York and grew up near San Francisco. She now lives in Kansas City, Missouri. Her most recent book, New Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development was published by New Village Press in November 2006. She is also co-author of Community, Culture and Globalization, an international anthology published by the Rockefeller Foundation and Clarity, a novel. Her essays have been published in In Motion Magazine, Art in America, Theatre, Tikkun, and many other journals. She has addressed countless academic and community audiences in the U.S. and Europe, on topics ranging from the ethics of community arts practice to the development of integral organizations. She has provided advice and counsel to hundreds of community-based organizations, independent media groups, and public and private funders and policymakers including the Rockefeller Foundation, Global Kids, the Independent Television Service, Appalshop and dozens of others. She is currently focusing on three projects: a book about artists working to heal the prison-industrial complex; a film about Rabbi Arthur Waskow; and a campaign to create a “new WPA” for artists. She serves as President of the Board of Directors of The Shalom Center.

Be a Tree

2009-04-10T08:16:00.001-05:00

By David Horvitz

"The Wheel of Willing Diversion" Celebration

2009-04-09T16:51:00.020-05:00

at the Spencer Museum Arts Festival
(outside between the Spencer and the Kansas Union)
Saturday, May 2nd from 12 - 4

Press play for one last spin of The Wheel of Willing Diversion.
The Percolator will be showcasing the Wheel and all of the responses participants have crafted from following its directives. Remember to drop off your responses at the front desk inside the Museum before May 1st so they can be included. (If your response requires special attention, audio/visual equipment for example, please contact the Percolator asap).

Writings from the Illuminated (nearby) Tree

2009-04-03T22:47:00.006-05:00

Below are examples of writings incorporated into the Illuminated (nearby) Tree. A booklet containing all of the writings is available at the Percolator for $2.

I would play hide – and – seek with my brother and then find the best most comfortable spot where I could see everyone and no one could see me, then forget I was in the middle of a game and just hang out for hours.

When I was about 8 my best friend and I would find dead birds around our backyards – so we buried the birds at the base of a tree and made little shrines and a cross and did farewell rituals for the little birds.

The orange tree that I grew from a seed that came from an orange I had @ Thanksgiving 1984 – I still have it.

I’m out on a limb. What a view. I think I’ll climb down some – that’s a little more stable but I can’t see as much.

In Hong Kong the trees have vines that drop into the streets. These trees can get so large they are their own islands in the rivers in southern China – Fred Yung from Hong Kong.

I used to hide small items in a knot-hole for the neighbor children. Wait, that was Boo Radley.

Trees are pretty cool, but so is paper.

Lone Star Lake – August 1983 – lying on my back, peaking on LSD, looking up through shimmering leaves.

I’m so tall I feel like a tree. People don’t cut me down.

So Long to a Zeller

2009-03-30T23:01:00.001-05:00

Dave & Heidi again
Originally uploaded by Lawrence Percolator

Our partner Heidi has left town for new adventures out west. We'll miss her.

When I learned the roots of Mondrian

2009-03-28T09:59:00.004-05:00

This reminded me of my learning of Mondrian's trees.
Over easter or spring break in 1991 I had an assignment to make a composition based upon a thing found in the natural world. I chose ball moss. Ball moss is a tangle of long tendrils and delicate flowers that grows on Texas shade trees. The assignment consisted of a 20x30 illustration board and a glazed ceramic plate, which I believe is a riff playing off of some Bauhaus lesson. I drew an oak branch with a ball of ball moss that morphed into a composition of "L"s and squares. An upperclassma n pointed out to me that Mondrian started with trees.

2009-03-21T11:16:00.004-05:00

Trees I Have Known is a juried exhibition featuring artwork and ephemera made by and collected by a diverse group of over thirty artists, thinkers, and neighbors who have created work that reflects upon the tree as subject, metaphor, and inspiration in many media.

Charles Boone (Illinois)
Kyle Bravo & Jenny LeBlanc (Louisiana)
Stacey Cluppert (Wisconsin)
Eric Farnsworth (Lawrence)
Jon Feinstein (New York)
Jenny Lee Fowler (New York)
Justin Guilbert (France)
Mirka Hokkanen (Washington)
Paul Hotvedt (Lawrence)
Chancey Jahnig (Lawrence, currently)
Lora Jost (Lawrence)
Mindy Kober (Texas)
Jeff Krolick (Oregon)
Dave Loewenstein (Lawrence)
George Lorio (Texas)
Robin Masi (Massachusetts)
Karen Matheis (Lawrence)
Eleanor Matheis (Lawrence)
Elaine McKay (New York)
Michele Monseau (Texas)
Melanie Mowinski (Massachusetts)
Colleen Mullins (Minnesota)
Tim Obrien (Lawrence)
Erika Osborne (West Virginia)
Sarah Nicole Phillips (New York)
Jim Proctor (Minnesota)
John Reeves (Lawrence)
Katherine Sehr (New York)
Erika Shearer (Lawrence)
Matthew Szosz (California)
Suzanne Szucs (New York)
Jake Vail (Lawrence)
Erika Villareal (Indiana)
KT Walsh ( Lawrence)
Roscoe Wilson (Ohio)

Unmonumental 130

2009-03-13T01:00:00.004-05:00

Found Art (East Village): Unmonumental 130

from Joy Garnett's NEWSgrist: where spin is art

Quote

2009-03-09T22:48:00.007-05:00

Trees
smell good,
feel good,
sound good,
and look good.
And as if that weren't enough,
they point beyond themselves.
-Robert Adams
courtesy of Philip Heying

Trees I have Known opens
6PM Saturday Night

Branching Out: Tree-themed art exhibits sprout up across town
Lawrence Journal World article March 10, 2009

Katie Hunt in the Percolator Alley Gallery

2009-03-06T23:27:00.004-06:00

"Heirloom"
Beads and embroidery on vintage cotton doily

Katie's Artist's statement:

I am a senior from Memphis, Tennessee studying Textile Design, Architecture, French, and Art History at the University of Kansas.

My most recent body of work deals with the enlarged and stylized microscopic images of viruses, bacteria, algae, and fungi. The organic forms, vibrant colors, and repetition of similar shapes are the key components to my embroidered and beaded pieces. It is through the creation of these small pieces that I have begun to realize how crucial an effect these tiny organisms can have on our daily lives. In addition, there is a sense of grotesque beauty conjured up by the fact that something so attractive and fascinating has the potential to cause so much harm.

The incorporation of vintage doilies adds a familial aspect to my work that is a trend even in my pieces not related to microorganisms. I have utilized these recycled remnants of a domestic sort in hopes that they will bring about the idea of family heirlooms that are passed down through the ages. When we think of inheritance, it is most often a positive idea associated with the passing down of items that are of value to a family’s ancestry. It is rare, however that we view our physical traits as something we also fall heir to whether we would like to or not. This inheritance of disease and other illnesses is not an aspect of our family history that we enjoy conjuring up, nonetheless it is fascinating to look a little deeper into our lineage to discover how truly interconnected we are with the members of our family.

Percolating at the Spencer

2009-03-05T13:08:00.002-06:00

Come spin "The Wheel of Willing Diversion" - a Percolator project

by Dave Loewenstein and Eric Farnsworth installed in front of
the Spencer Museum of Art.
Opening Tonight, March 5
6:30 - 8pm

Spencer Museum of Art
1301 Mississippi
Lawrence, Kansas

Wander to the Wonder Fair

2009-03-03T18:30:00.010-06:00

Our friends at the Wonder Fair have an opening on Saturday night. Rust Still Dreams new works by Jordan Briceland & Charles Ray. OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, March 7th 6-9pm

Jordan Briceland

Charles Ray

Humankind often views rust as a corrosive nuisance to its industrial advancements. However, rust is the footprint of a material transformation. It is a metaphor for human existence as a marker of time past. The antithesis of paint, rust disrupts the conformity of a surface with organic texture and tonality. It re-imagines the aesthetic of it's landscape while dreamily re-inventing the form from which it came.

The show is up March 7th - March 29th, 2009

Wonder Fair Gallery/Shoppe/Studio
803 Massachusetts St.

Joyful Trees

2009-02-24T22:11:00.000-06:00

Next Show March 14

2009-02-18T21:04:00.004-06:00

Know a Tree?

2009-02-09T12:59:00.004-06:00

Knitta Please

Anne Bruce Laundry Meditation & Free Sale

2009-02-02T20:12:00.005-06:00

In the Farnsworth Alley Gallery

Anne Bruce
Laundry Meditation
Medium: Folded clothing

Price: free-sale at the Percolator when it comes down (February 8)

I live in Lawrence Kansas where I acquired my Master's degree in architecture and found my ritual muses; dance and yoga. I am fascinated with process oriented work that reveals materiality and time. There tends to be a lot of tedious motions involved with the things I make. For me, pleasure comes from the repetitive movements required from my body and either the transformation or pure, raw expression of materials.

Mothers, Madonnas, And Queens

2009-01-15T22:54:00.005-06:00

Mothers, Madonnas, And Queens:
Revisited and Revered
Mixed Media Stencils by
Katherine Dessert

January 23-February 15

Join us Friday, January 23rd
6 - 9pm for the opening reception
with music by Bomstad and friends

I have called Lawrence home for eight years, more or less. During that time, I have participated in a number of local group art events including Red Balloon and have exhibited my work in solo shows at Wheatfield's and Z' Divine Espresso. One of my stencil prints was a part of Paper Politics in Seattle in 2005. As a result of participating in that show, several of my stencils were included in the book Graffiti Women by Nicholas Ganz.

When I came to Lawrence eight years ago, my initial efforts toward showing my work publicly were driven by a desire to share my creations via the most accessible venue available. My efforts led me to discover folks taking their art to the streets, alleys, living rooms, and front yards of our community. The Percolator has the same take-it-to-the-streets impulse that sparked inspiration in me eight years ago.

submit entries via FLICKR

2009-01-13T21:21:00.003-06:00

Find the Trees I have Known group on flickr to submit work by Saturday February 7.

Trees I Have Known

Call For Entry

2009-01-10T17:48:00.009-06:00

CALL FOR ENTRIES

Trees I Have Known
March 14 – May 3, 2009
Exhibition at the Lawrence Percolator

Trees I Have Known will feature artwork and ephemera made by and collected by a diverse group of artists, thinkers, and neighbors whose work, narratives, and meditations reflect upon the tree as subject, metaphor or inspiration.

Acceptable Media/Work
2-D and 3-D works will be considered for the exhibition. (Woodcuts encouraged!). If selected, work must be delivered ready to hang or install. Please note that the Percolator is a 600 square foot space with eight foot ceilings.

Inquiries and directions considered for the exhibition may include
Family Tree, Rope Swing, Tree Stump, Climbing Tree, Tree House, Tunnel Tree, Carved Seeds, Pits or Pods, Chainsaw Art, Unknown Specimens, Cataloged Specimens, Invented Specimens, Research, Lumberyard, Wooden Nickel Collection, Arboretum, Sap, Espalier, Germination, Totem Pole, Landmark

The answer must be, I think, that beauty and grace
are performed whether or not we will or sense them.
The least we can do is try to be there.
Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Trees I Have Known Calendar
Saturday February 7, 2009 submit work via email (deadline)
Monday February 16, 2009 notification of selection
Friday March 6, 2009 work must arrive
Saturday March 14, 2009 exhibition opens

Submissions will be accepted via email
Submit digital images (jpg or png) of up to three different works to
treesihaveknown @ gmail.com with brief description (including size, date, medium) and price of work (if for sale) with contact information, including name, mailing address, gallery representation (if applicable), email, website url, and telephone.
Please limit each image sizes to 1mb each; with file name: lastname_firstname_001.jpg

Pricing
The Lawrence Percolator will take 20% of all art sales; price work accordingly.

Local Drop Off/Delivery
If selected, local delivery/drop off will be coordinated by February 28.

Cost of Shipping to and from exhibition will be the responsibility of the artist. Original shipping materials will be re-used for return shipping to artist. Return shipping fees will be coordinated with artist via PayPal, check or otherwise.

About the Percolator
The Lawrence Percolator is the project space of the Lawrence Corporation for the Advancement of the Visual Arts. LCAVA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing new art and cultural events to audiences in Lawrence and Douglas County Kansas. Donations are tax deductible! Visit us here Contact us at: lawrencepercolator @ gmail.com

Spencer Museum
The idea for the Percolator exhibition resulted from discussions about Trees & Other Ramifications: Branches in Nature & Culture. The Spencer Museum at the University of Kansas will be showing Trees & Other Ramifications: Branches in Nature & Culture during the course of this exhibition.

The Lawrence Percolator is not affiliated with either the Spencer Museum or the University of Kansas.

Half a century ago, on August 11, 1956, an Oldsmobile convertible driven by Jackson Pollock, who was drunk, hit a tree in the Springs, killing the artist and a passenger . . . Pollock, like other doomed artists and martyrs to fame in his era . . . advanced and, by destroying himself, oddly consecrated America’s postwar cultural ascendancy. Sometimes a new, renegade sensibility really takes hold only when somebody is seen to have died for it.
Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker

Professor Blazon Visits the Percolator

2008-12-19T23:43:00.003-06:00

On December 18th, in conjunction with "Signs of a New Apocalypse or Glimmers of a D.I.Y. Utopia?", the Percolator was honored to host distinguished Professor Lance Blazon, Executive Director of the Research Institute for Apocalyptical Transitions (RIAT). In a wide ranging and provocative lecture entitled "Modeling the Arrival of the Apocalypse: Quantifying Equestrian Alienation, the Swine Contradiction and Their Threats to Our Existence," Blazon shocked and bewildered the audience with new irrefutable evidence of horse and pig collaboration in the conspiracy to topple Homo sapien hegemony.

Alley Gallery Apocatopia

2008-12-10T23:22:00.002-06:00

In the Alley Gallery through December 20th...

Alicia Kelly
"I Told Her Not to Open It"
Gouache, Pen and Ink, Hand Sewn
$185
I’m a fine arts student at KU currently majoring in printmaking.I recently have been experimenting with incorporating hand sewing into my drawings. I’m a lover of fabrics, drawing lines and unplanned fun.
Contact: akelly@ku.edu

Pictures from the Utopalypse

2008-12-09T14:48:00.008-06:00

"Signs of the New Apocalypse or Glimmers of a D.I.Y. Utopia?" opened on Saturday to a raucous crowd of doomsday seekers and potluck enablers. As seen below, there were many nose to snout arguments concerning the fate of the world. The potential for a 'varmint rumble' eventually led to an all out evacuation of the Percolator by a costumed crusader.

Later, after the threat seemed to have passed, children enjoyed a brief tour of the "History of Planet Earth" on the Farnsworth "Flip-O-Vision."

Hostages taken to 4-1-1 scribbled their last wishes and forgivenesses on the walls, before EMU and Andy Stowers brought on "The Rattler" and Peter Wright seduced the captive audience with fresh utopalyptic poetry.

There were disappointments, especially when the bio-hazard emblazoned cake arrived. Many holdouts at the opening had high hopes for a sweet buttercream frosted carrot confection, but were horrified by the grisly meat n' potatoes nightmare that lay under the pretty facade. We had been warned.

The show continues on weekends 12- 6 through January 11th.

perfect hell

2008-12-03T19:23:00.004-06:00

Preview and reportage for Signs of the New Apocalypse or Glimmers of a DIY Utopia? scribed by Gavon Laessig in the current Lawrence.com here.

features artists:
Hong Zhang
Jill Ensley
Connie Ehrlich
Dave Van Hee
Lora Jost
Katherine Dessert
Eric Farnsworth
Dave Loewenstein

Opens 7 PM Saturday December 6

NEXT SHOW OF SHOWS

2008-11-30T10:48:00.003-06:00

Signs of The Apocalypse or Glimmers of a DIY Utopia
Opens 7PM Saturday December 6
20 Artists | Many Questions | Sublime Answers

what's to come

2008-11-18T13:49:00.005-06:00

misspelling with Utopians

source: wikipedia

Artist Tom Weso featured in the Percolator Farnsworth Alley Gallery

2008-11-18T13:41:00.005-06:00

Space Cactus

Denise's Blue Cactus

Thomas Pecore Weso (M.A.), of the Bear and Turtle Clans, grew up surrounded by the rich artistic tradition of his Menominee and Potawatomi Indian family in northern Wisconsin. His Grandfather Moon Wesho, a prominent leader, and Uncle Monroe (Buddy) Weso were his first instructors in wood carving, drawing, plant lore, and spirituality. This Woodlands cultural background influences Weso’s artistic choice of vivid palette and balance of plant-derived designs against a background that reverses into foreground. This dynamism is apparent in a sequence of drawings and paintings set in the Arizona desert north of Phoenix.

http://deniselow.blogspot.com
www.mammothpublications.com

Now Showing in the Farnsworth Alley Gallery

2008-11-03T23:39:00.006-06:00

On Saturday November 1, we unveiled the latest Alley Gallery installation with work by Kendra Marable (one of the photographers in our current Recent Shootings show). Find out more about Kendra here.
Recent Shootings is on the walls of the Percolator through Sunday November 16.

November 1 also marked our first Dia de los Muertos en Kansas celebration + potluck.

NOW ACCEPTING PROPOSALS

2008-10-28T00:42:00.007-05:00

The Percolator is now accepting your proposals for projects and exhibits in our space. You may get a copy of the proposal form by one of two convenient ways:

1. Email us a request
2. Pick up a copy at the Percolator

Recent Shootings

2008-10-08T17:55:00.005-05:00

Come join us for the opening of

Recent Shootings

Photos by Geoff Deman, Kendra Marable, and Tim vonHolten

Friday, October 17

7 pm

food, beverages, & gorillas, all of your friends and neighbors—trust us, you'll want to be there.

Exhibit runs through November 16.

Tony Peterson

2008-10-02T18:08:00.005-05:00

In the Alley Gallery: Tony Peterson

Tony Peterson has had a life long love affair with with the arts and has worked in a wide range of mediums. His current work using tar paper harkens back to his years as the son of a carpenter, using scraps of materials left over from projects for his own creations. With a background in administration, journalism and publication design, he is currently on a short mid-life sabbatical taking time to work in his garden and explore his creative interests.

Red Dwarf
Woven tarpaper, crayon, oil pastels
$100

Stumbling Block
Woven tarpaper, shellac, recycled wood
$150Pry Bar
Woven and folded tarpaper, metal primer, shellac
$200

The Percolator Alley Gallery, the only all-day, all-night art venue in town. Come look in the windows—we're in the alley behind the Arts Center.

Cloud Show in the news!

2008-08-26T14:52:00.001-05:00

Check out this great interview with our Cloud Show curators, Natalie Anne Dye & Heidi Zeller, in this week's Lawrence.com.

Clouds Are Easy to Love

2008-08-15T14:44:00.002-05:00

Opening Friday, August 22
7 to 10 p.m.

poetry by Peter Wright
music by Karl Ramberg

& more
food & drinks, art inside and out

:: be sure and look up ::

Lora Jost

2008-08-01T15:48:00.004-05:00

In the Alley Gallery: Lora Jost

Lora Jost is an artist with a studio in Lawrence, Kansas. Jost exhibits her art, teaches at the Lawrence Arts Center, illustrates, writes, and works with community groups. She co-authored, with Dave Loewenstein, Kansas Murals: A Traveler’s Guide (2006, University Press of Kansas), recognized as a Kansas Notable Book 2007 by the Kansas Center for the Book. She currently serves on the board of the Lawrence Arts Commission.

Come by the Percolator Alley Gallery day or night :: rain or shine

Call for Clouds !

2008-07-28T21:50:00.006-05:00

Help make a sky at the Lawrence Percolator for the group exhibition

clouds are easy to love
Featuring mixed media meditations on the simple subject of clouds.

"Sky" installation (on the ceiling of the Percolator) is intended to enhance the group exhibition featuring 16 Lawrence artists, and is open to anyone and everyone.

1. Create and submit your interpretation of CLOUDS as they appear within a 4"x6” space. No matting or framing - we must be able to affix it feasibly to the ceiling.
2. Mail your 4"x6" submission(s) and contact information to Percolator, 913 Rhode Island (Garage), Lawrence, KS 66044
3. Entries must be received by August 17, 2008 to be included in "clouds are easy to love" August 22 – October 4, 2008 4. No jury, no fees, no returns.

Questions? Donations? Contact lawrencepercolator@gmail.com

Dime Bag Show opens July 26

2008-07-22T12:05:00.002-05:00

Come join us for the Opening!

Dime Bag Show

Saturday, July 26
7-10 p.m.

The Percolator Dime Bag Show is the culmination of good will & hard work put forth by local artists on behalf of the Social Service League. For $10, artists filled a grocery bag with SSL ephemera, then transformed the raw materials in their studios. An ecclectic show, plus music! food! friends!

The Dime Bag Show runs through August 17.
(The Percolator is open Saturdays & Sundays, 12-6 p.m.)

Abhi Sandal in the Alley Gallery

2008-07-18T12:33:00.005-05:00

Abhi Sandal grew up in Lawrence and Douglas County, and has been away at art school in California. Currently he is summering with his parents in rural Baldwin. He seems to enjoy doing artwork outdoors, but Nancy Boyda hung one of his indoor works in the hallways of Congress.

In the Percolator Alley Gallery window :: Viewable day or night, rain or shine!

Call for Artists!

2008-07-07T11:28:00.004-05:00

Dime Bag Show

a fundraiser for the Social Service League

Call for Artists

Art for a good cause!

1. Stop by the Social Service League beginning Wednesday, July 9
2. Pay $10 for a “Percolator bag” (all proceeds go to the SSL)
3. Fill the bag with whatever you want
4. Take it home & make artwork from your bag’s contents
5. Bring it to the Percolator (drop off dates and times will be on the bag)

The Dime Bag Show opens Saturday, July 26

Social Service League
905 Rhode Island, Lawrence
Wed. through Fri. 9–4
Saturdays 9–2

Questions? Contact Leslie (lvonholten@sunflower.com)

Sunday afternoon poetry

2008-06-22T20:37:00.004-05:00

One Sunday afternoon, the Poet-in-the-Box appeared on the Percolator patio.

Ideas went in...

...and poems came out.

Then the poet emerged. It was Chantel Guidry!

Another pleasant summer afternoon at the Percolator. Thanks, Poet-in-the-Box!

Poet-in-the-Box

2008-06-19T16:28:00.008-05:00

The Poet-in-the-Box (Lawrence, KS version) will be stepping out of the box to give the first ever public performance of her work!

Sunday, June 22

1:00 - 2:00
The poet will be in the box, writing free
poems for anyone who will share an idea.

2:00 - 3:00
The poet will emerge from the box, read poems written that day and at other Poet- in-the-Box events, answer questions, and otherwise interact with the audience.

If you have poems written by the Poet-in-the-Box (especially poems written
at the East Lawrence Block Party in September 2007), please have them at
the event for reading. This is a kid friendly event, so bring the little ones!
A booklet of the Poet-in-the-Box's best poems will be available for a mere
one dollar!

Contemporary Cave Paintings

2008-06-06T23:03:00.011-05:00

Gotfred Beardshear
Contemporary Cave Paintings
June 13 - July 6

Opening Reception
Friday the 13th of June
7 -10pm

illuminated nightly

2008-06-02T22:13:00.009-05:00

Z u r a f a
by Andy "Andrew" Hadle

Illuminated Nightly at the Percolator Alley Gallery

Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg were window dressers early in their careers. Now it's your chance to be one too. Email the lawrence percolator if you are interested in showing work in the PAG.